Bikeway Update: JFK Drive Coming in January, East Cesar Chavez in March

San Francisco will soon see its first parking-protected bikeway like this one on Chicago's Kinzie Street[1], which was installed less than 30 days after Mayor Rahm Emanuel entered office. Photo: Josh Koonce/Flickr[2]

Update: An explanation for the delay of the JFK bikeway project was provided by SFMTA staff below.

Protected bikeways on John F. Kennedy Drive and eastern Cesar Chavez Street will arrive in January and March respectively, San Francisco transportation planners said this week.

The parking-protected bikeway on JFK in Golden Gate Park, previously slated[3] to be installed this month, has been pushed back to January, according to an email update from SFMTA Livable Streets Division Planner Miriam Sorell. The reason for the delay, which is not the project’s first[4], was to mitigate construction impacts on the neighboring de Young Museum and California Academy of Sciences during a peak season, she said.

Delaying construction has also allowed the SFMTA to perform more outreach and “refine design details through additional meetings with stakeholders regarding concerns raised by members of the disability community and pedestrian safety advocates,” said Sorell.

On eastern Cesar Chavez Street, a bikeway[5] separated from motor vehicles by soft-hit posts is also due to be installed in March, SFCTA Deputy Director for Policy and Planning Anna Laforte told the SFCTA Plans and Programs Committee yesterday. It will arrive the same month as a two-way bikeway on Cargo Way[6] in Hunter’s Point.

Last weekend, the SFMTA also held a public workshop for the protected bikeway project on Fell and Oak Streets[9], drawing input from hundreds of attendees[10]. That project is expected to be implemented by summer.